Corruption allegations rock Qatar's successful 2022 World Cup bid

By James Montague, CNN

Updated 10:26 AM ET, Mon June 2, 2014

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Decision made – Sepp Blatter, the president of world football's governing body FIFA, announced that a redacted version of the report into the alleged wrongdoing surroiunding the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups would be published.

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'Picasso gift' – A published report claims UEFA president Michel Platini was gifted a Picasso painting in return for support for the Russia 2018 World Cup bid. Platini strenuously denies the allegation.

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Qatar and Russia cleared – Russia and Qatar, the hosts of the two World Cups, have been cleared of allegations of corruption by FIFA. Russia, the 2018 host and Qatar, which will host the tournament in 2022, were absolved of wrongdoing.

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2022 World Cup – Michael Garcia (left) handed his report on the bidding process for the 2018 / 2022 World Cups to the FIFA Ethics Committee. Garcia has also called for the findings of his report to be made public.

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2022 controversy continues – FIFA has been plagued by a series of problems and controversies since Russia and Qatar was awarded the right to stage the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

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World Cup heat – The announcement by FIFA in 2010 that Qatar would host the 2022 World Cup finals has brought greater exposure for the tiny emirate.

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Off message? – It has also placed world governing body FIFA under pressure as to just when the tournament will be held. The organization's secretary general Jerome Valcke says he expects the 2022 World Cup to be played between November and January.

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Workers' rights – It's not just when the 2022 World Cup will be played that has caused Qatar and FIFA problems. Qatar has come under pressure over the plight of the country's migrant workers, who make up 90 per cent of Qatar's population.

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Rage against machine – This has been been highlighted by the International Trade Union Confederation, which has criticized Qatar's system of sponsorship which ties workers to employers and has been abused in the past. The ITUC also point to the high number of worker deaths and the conditions that many find themselves in. Temperatures on building sites in the summer months can hit 50 degree Celcius.

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Back to the future – Qatar's ambitious plans for the 2022 World Cup include building brand new, state of the art stadiums that would rival any in the world.

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Island in the sun – But costs have spiraled and the technology has yet to be successfully deployed in full.

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Waiting game – But the new allegations by the Sunday Times could, if proven, see the vote for the 2022 final rerun, making questions about timing irrelevant.

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Putin role highlighted – The Sunday Times report also claims Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) allegedly won the covert support of FIFA President Sepp Blatter (R) to enhance the claims of the Russia 2018 bid.

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Story highlights

Investigation by British newspaper alleges network of payments for World Cup votes

Qatar had won the bid to host 2022 World Cup finals

USA, Australia, Japan and South Korea lost out

FIFA executive committee member calls for rerun of vote

As new allegations emerged surrounding the FIFA bidding process for the World Cup finals, an American former anti-terrorism lawyer will interview leading figures from Qatar's bid team in Oman Monday.

Those interviews will take place against the backdrop of calls for a new vote on which country should host the 2022 event.

Qatar has promised laywer Michael Garcia "full cooperation" after soccer's global governing body was engulfed in new scandal following a British newspaper's damning investigation into the bidding process for the World Cup finals.

The story alleges a Qatari official paid more than $5 million in an attempt to secure support for his country's successful bid to host the 2022 tournament.

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The Sunday Times alleges that Mohamed bin Hammam made secret payments to soccer officials in the run up to the controversial ballot.

Bin Hammam, the former president of the Asian Football Confederation, was a member of FIFA's powerful 24-person executive committee charged with voting on who hosted the finals at the time of the vote in 2010.

FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce has said he would back a re-vote, potentially opening the possibility of the U.S. staging the 2022 tournament.

When FIFA voted on who should host the 2022 World Cup in 2010, the organization 's president Sepp Blatter reportedly voted for the U.S., while a potential rival for the presidency, UEFA chief Michel Platini, voted for Qatar.

'Millions' of e-mails

The Sunday Times claims to have seen millions of e-mails detailing payments to officials in the Caribbean, Africa and the Pacific designed to secure support for the tiny, gas-rich Middle Eastern emirate's quixotic bid to host the world's most popular sports tournament.

"Bit by bit, we have been unraveling it and finally we hit the mother lode," Sarah Baxter, deputy editor of the Sunday Times, told CNN in an interview.

"We've seen millions of documents that prove without a shadow of doubt that corruption was involved. There is clear evidence linking payments to people who have influence over the decision of who hosted the World Cup.

"We will take whatever steps are necessary to defend the integrity of Qatar's bid and our lawyers are looking into this matter.

"The right to host the tournament was won because it was the best bid and because it is time for the Middle East to host its first FIFA World Cup."

Dogged by allegations

Almost as soon as Qatar won the bid to host the 2022 World Cup finals, the process was dogged by allegations of bribery and corruption.

In the run-up to the 2010 vote, two FIFA executive committee members were suspended after another Sunday Times investigation filmed Nigeria's Amos Adamu and Tahiti's Reynald Temarii appearing to offer to sell their votes in exchange for money.

Bin Hammam was banned from all football-related activities for life after first being accused of offering bribes to soccer officials in the Caribbean seeking support for his doomed 2011 bid to replace Sepp Blatter as FIFA president.

He was cleared of those allegations after a hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport but was later banned for different "conflict of interest" charges relating to his time as AFC president.

Ethics investigation

The Sunday Times' allegations come ahead of a FIFA-commissioned ethics investigation into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

That two-year investigation has been led by Garcia.

"We are cooperating fully with Mr. Garcia's ongoing investigation and remain totally confident that any objective enquiry (sic) will conclude we won the bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup fairly," the Qatar bid team added in its statement.

Belounis backs Qatar as World Cup hosts

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Several leading figures in the sport have called for the vote over hosting the 2022 World Cup finals to be rerun.

"I certainly as a member of the executive committee would have absolutely no problem whatsoever if the recommendation (in Garcia's report) was for a revote," FIFA vice president Boyce told the BBC on Sunday.

But FIFA's head of media, Delia Fischer, told CNN that Boyce was not speaking to the BBC on behalf of FIFA when he mentioned a rerun of the vote and that the organization would not be making a statement until after Garcia's meeting with the Qatari delegation in Oman.

Garcia didn't immediately reply to attempts by CNN to contact him.

Murky world of favors and junkets

The 11-page Sunday Times investigation uncovers an alleged murky world of international payments, favors and junkets.

Among the allegations are claims that bin Hammam ran a network of 10 slush funds to make payments to 30 African football officials and that up to $1.6 million had been paid to former FIFA Vice President Jack Warner.

"When it comes to executive committee members, we don't really get involved in what happens inside the committee because FIFA is very strict," the bid's chairman, Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani, told World Football Insider a month before the 2010 vote.

"But outside the executive committee and within the bid itself, Mohamed bin Hammam has been a very good mentor to us. He's been very helpful in advising us how to go about with our messaging and can have the biggest impact.

"He's always been advising us and always been by our side. He's definitely our biggest asset in the bid."

The Pacific connection

One of the most damaging claims centers on the fate of the former head of the Oceania Football Confederation, Reynald Temarii.

After Temarii had been caught on camera allegedly offering to sell his vote, he was suspended from the executive committee and had, according to the e-mails seen by the Sunday Times, been preparing to resign, allowing his deputy to vote in his stead.